A pensioner who abused youngsters for nearly three decades in the Co Down Catholic church where he worked as a caretaker was yesterday jailed for two years.
Judge Anthony Hart told 66 year old church caretaker Patrick Joseph Fagan, of The Quoile Fold, Downpatrick that, but for his guilty pleas and age, he would have been jailed for longer.
Fagan, who also abused his role as assistant scout leader with St Patrick's Church in Downpatrick, pleaded guilty to 17 sex charges.
Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, heard that from September, 1966, to June, 1989, Fagan abused the boys aged nine and 10 at the time, indecently assaulting them and committing gross indecency with one of the boys.